Afterparty
The collab wrapped up as a roaring success.
Just from today's donations alone, a rough estimate put the total well past four million won.
The problem was that, contrary to my expectations, when you collabbed on someone else's stream, the host took the entire donation pot.
Apparently that was just how streaming culture worked. Clinging to the point and arguing about it would have been idiotic.
Damn it… I'd figured we'd split it down the middle.
Well…
I'd gained a fair bit of name recognition from the collab, so maybe it didn't matter?
More viewers meant more of my own revenue down the line. I decided not to get bitter about it.
In any case, once the stream ended, Hina and I stayed on Discord talking.
"You did amazing, Professor! Today's stream was an absolute legend! Peak concurrent viewers hit a whole nineteen thousand!"
Whoa.
So we'd climbed almost to twenty thousand.
I'd been so tense I hadn't paid attention to the viewer count at all. I'd roughly assumed it was a little over ten thousand…
"You worked hard as well, Hina. I must have fallen short in a lot of ways. I'm still not used to streaming…"
"Fallen short? You're a complete streaming genius! I was honestly shocked. Pulling a show that entertaining when you've only been at it a month—that's genuinely hard!"
"Thank you…"
I answered that way, assuming she was just being polite for the sake of my face. Truth was, every time I'd gone off the rails, Hina had reeled me back in more times than I could count. And by the end, my energy had tanked hard from sheer physical exhaustion.
If I'd known we had twenty thousand people watching, the pressure probably would have produced a few more mistakes on top of everything else.
Whew…
Whatever else, the conclusion was clear: exercise was mandatory.
"Oh, right! Professor! Could you give me your account number?"
"My account number?"
"Yes! The stream blew up so hard that if I don't at least send you a performance fee, I'll feel terrible!"
"Uh, well…"
"Refusal is refused! Read it out, please!"
I gave Hina my account number. Honestly, when someone offered money, what reason was there to turn it down?
A moment later—
Ding!
1,500,000 won has been deposited.
Depositor: Lee Da-som
Oho.
So Hina's real name was Lee Da-som.
"It went through, right?"
"Mm. Isn't this a bit much? You basically carried the whole stream today."
"Without you, Professor, we never could have made a stream this fun. Think of it as my way of saying thanks."
Three hours of streaming, and half an ordinary office worker's monthly salary had just landed in my account.
Damn…
Hina really did have a beautiful soul.
"Also, Professor, there's something I wanted to ask."
"Yes? What is it?"
Staring at that deposit history, I felt like I could answer just about anything she threw at me.
"Are you… planning to keep being a VTuber?"
"Pardon? What do you mean by that…?"
"I don't know the full story, but… Professor, you started VTubing because of some kind of circumstance, didn't you?"
"Mm…"
That was true. Honestly, it would have been stranger if someone watching my streams hadn't guessed as much.
"Your avatar quality is seriously high-end, but you don't seem all that familiar with the VTuber scene… Viewers have probably all figured it out too—that the reason you started wasn't ordinary. You're not… doing, you know, that site, are you?"
"That site?"
What was she talking about?
"…For the record, you shouldn't say this kind of thing on stream. DC Inside… for VTubers, it's basically a taboo site to mention on air. But if you want to ego-search or figure out what viewers actually want, you pretty much have to check it anyway… And people there have been saying all sorts of things about you."
DC Inside…
I knew it was one of the sites that steered Korean internet trends. I'd visited a few times looking for information, but I'd never actually participated. There were so many boards, and I could never make sense of what anyone was saying—like they were all talking in some private cipher only they understood.
"What kind of things were they saying?"
"Oh, nothing that would hurt your feelings if you heard it. Almost all of it's praise for you. But the thing people are curious about is exactly what I just brought up—'It doesn't seem like the Professor started VTubing of her own free will.' A few people wrote posts on that topic, and some of them even made it to the concept posts…"
"…Concept posts?"
"Think of them like best-of posts."
Hmm…
Best-of posts.
Was I actually that hot a commodity in the internet world? Well, it was true I hadn't become a VTuber by choice. If Jeong Eun-gyeol hadn't decided she wanted to be one, I never would have started either.
…Somehow that left a little sting of guilt.
Looking at Hina and other VTubers, you could tell they poured their whole hearts into this. The level of immersion from the people watching my streams was already beyond anything I'd imagined.
And me, in comparison? Was I actually answering the audience's sincerity the way I should? Was I treating this too casually?
"Professor?"
"…I can't share the full circumstances. But yes—I definitely didn't start this of my own free will."
"I thought so… Then, as for continuing…?"
I couldn't answer right away.
It was a little ridiculous, given how high I'd been riding from the collab only moments ago—but this was a real career question. Time to think it through properly, at least once.
Honestly, right up until the collab, I hadn't seen any real future in being a VTuber. A nice voice and an unusual concept could only take you so far—the ceiling was obvious.
Today's collab had been a success, and I expected a solid influx of new viewers going forward. But could I really say that had broken through the ceiling?
Would I be able to do "VTuber-like" things from here on out?
Acting cute. Singing anime songs. Doing girlish little bits.
…No. Absolutely not.
Singing I might somehow manage. Cute and girlish were, no matter how I turned it over, impossible.
In that case, wouldn't shutting the stream down early be the right call—for the viewers and for me?
…And yet.
Hanging out and talking with the chat had, without question, been fun.
Even when the future looked foggy, the one reason I'd still opened the stream once a day without fail was just that: playing with people was fun.
"Professor?"
Hina's careful, tentative question.
"I'm going to keep going."
I answered calmly.
Yeah.
I was going to keep going.
But I decided to change my attitude a little.
Somewhere along the line, without realizing it, I'd been looking down on this industry. That was why I'd never bothered studying it. When you set foot in a field and don't even try to understand the field, success or failure aside—it's just rude.
Hina was serious about this work.
The viewers who'd sat through my nonsense in my room were pouring real emotion, real time, and real money into the existence called Unknown.
I liked philosophy, at least a little. That was why I'd landed on the "Philosophy Professor Unknown" concept in the first place. And yet, with that as my premise, I'd been treating other people's sincerity like a joke.
…Shameful.
"That said, from now on I intend to take it more seriously."
"More seriously?"
"As you said, I know far too little about this world. It's embarrassing, but until now I've been treating it too lightly. Starting today, I think I'll try doing things differently."
"So that means you are going to keep VTubing?"
"Yes. In earnest."
Though honestly, figuring out the VTuber industry properly all on my own was going to be rough. It would have been nice if someone who knew the field helped me out—but my streaming network was pitifully barren. The best I had was Hina… and suddenly dropping into a dogeza and begging her to take me as a disciple would probably just make her uncomfortable.
What to do…
"Then… could I ask you for one favor?"
Huh?
Hina was asking me for a favor?
"A favor?"
I echoed without thinking.
"Yes! I've been prepping a project lately!"
"A project?"
"After five years running purely as an indie, I hit a content ceiling, you know? Like… that feeling of being blocked by a roof with nowhere left to jump higher? So I thought—if I can't climb any higher, why not have someone pull me up? And I'd pull them up in return! That's how I landed on a crew."
A crew.
Not a word I was hearing for the first time. Even outside the VTuber scene, people forming groups around a shared purpose was ordinary enough. I already knew that internet streamers who got along sometimes made crews and did all sorts of things together.
But her saying that to me meant…
"Professor, would you like to join the crew I'm putting together?"
"Mm…"
"I'd already been thinking of you as a candidate before the collab, but today sealed it. There's no one who fits this crew better than you! The voice, the streaming sense, the unique character…! Honestly, I want you so bad!"
"Ahem… I appreciate the compliments, but…"
Logically, accepting was the right answer. Moments ago I'd been half-ready to dogeza and beg Hina to teach me the industry, hadn't I?
But no matter how I looked at it, a mentor and a peer were different things. A crew existed so you could generate synergy together—could I actually pull my weight if I joined Hina's?
"As I said, I'm nothing more than a complete greenhorn who barely understands the VTuber world. Would I really be of any help…?"
On top of that, just a few days ago I'd stood in front of my viewers spouting lines about being a solitary existence, about never granting anyone permission to share my loneliness. Immediately turning around and joining some other group would look pretty pathetic.
"You absolutely would help! A character as unique as yours is one of a kind in the VTuber scene! Oh, and nothing's fully set yet. We're still in the early planning stage, and I haven't even gathered all the members. I was thinking around five people, and I poked you first."
Five people.
If I joined, that would be Hina, me, and three others.
When I kept hesitating, Hina continued as if to take the pressure off.
"I'm not asking you to decide right this second. Like I said, it's still just a concept. You don't have to feel burdened. Honestly, a character like yours almost feels like she should stay a lone wolf anyway."
A lone wolf.
That did fit my character, sure enough.
But…
Suddenly Jeong Eun-gyeol's diary came to mind.
Jeong Eun-gyeol had wanted to mix with everyone on the other side of the monitor. If it had been her, she probably would have accepted without even looking back.
The whole reason I'd become a VTuber in the first place was Jeong Eun-gyeol's dream. There was no way I could ignore that completely.
"No—thank you so much for the offer. Would it be all right if I decided a little slowly, the way you suggested? While I study the industry… once I'm confident I can actually contribute to this crew, I'll give you my answer then."
"Professor, you really undervalue yourself. You're already a more than excellent VTuber. And being a VTuber doesn't mean you have to know the industry inside and out, either."
"…Thank you…"
"Then take your time thinking it over. Ah—look at the time. I'm sorry for keeping you up so late."
"No, I'm a night owl by nature anyway."
"Ahaha, everyone who streams is, right? Get some good rest, Professor! Thank you so much for today!"
Ding!
The call-end tone chimed, and I pulled off my headphones.
In the one-room apartment, with nothing but the computer fan whirring, I thought about the "crew" Hina had mentioned.
…Turning down a crew invitation from the number-one indie VTuber would still be a pretty stupid move.
Now that I'd decided to take being a VTuber seriously, the time had come for a major decision.